Slide-gear.



PATENTED APR. 24, 1906.

H. H. BUPFUM.

SLIDE GEAR.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 8. 1904.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

| I I i 51 L z l/ll 7/2 2)? eSSeS UNrTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HERBERT H. BUFFUM, OF ABINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO H. H. BUFFUMCOMPANY, OF ABINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS,'A COR- PORATION OF MAINE.

SLIDE-GEAR- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 24, 1906.

To allwhom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERBERT H. BUFFUM, of Abington; in the county ofPlymouth and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new anduseful Im rovements in Slide- Gears, of which the fol owing is aspecification.

This invention relates to gearing of the sliding-shift type forconnectlng a drivingshaft with a driven shaft in a plurality offorward-speed relations and in a reverse-driving relation.

One of the main objects of the invention is to reduce the complicationof gearing of this type and the cost of constructing the same; and afurther object-is to reduce the number of ears which run idly when notin use.

n carrying out theinvention I employ the principle of alining thedriving and driven shafts, so as to obtain a direct drive at one of thespeeds, preferably the highest forward speed, for which, however, noclaim for novelty is here made; but in place of employing a shiftablemember splined to the driven shaft for the purpose of changin gear, asis a common practice, I make use 0 a shiftable member on thecounter-shaft, which it is unnecessary to spline. The reversing-gearingis also carried with this shiftable member, and the driving-gear is elonated, so that one of the gears of the shiftab e member remains in meshtherewith in both the lowspeed forward drive and the reverse drive.-

Further features of improvement will be hereinafter alluded to.

Of the accompanying'drawings, Figure 1 represents a plan view of aslide-gear embodying my invention. Fig. 2 represents a transversesection through one end of the casing. Figs. 3 and 4 represent planviews in the plane 3 3 ofFig. 2, showing the gearing in differentrelations. Fig. 5 represents an elevation of the gears included in thereversing-train. Fig. 6 represents an axial section illustrating thecoupling employed for a direct drive at high speed. i

The same re erence characters indicate the same parts in all thefigures.

In the drawings, 10 re resents a shaft which may be considered t edriver, and 11 the driven shaft alined therewith, the two being formed,respectively, with an elo ated driving-gear 12 and a driven ear 13.membersrare also formed wit a coupling of hese which one member is inthe for of internal gear-teeth 14 in the face of the driven ear 13,while the other member is constitute by the forward ends of the teeth ofgear 12. Said gear-12 has a limited axial movement whose sole purpose isto couple the shafts 10 11 when a direct drive at high speed is desired,and at other times to disconnect the coupling. Intermediate its ends thegear 12 is formed with a circumferential groove 15, engaged by a roll 16on one arm 17 of a lever pivoted at 18 on the up er half of the casing19, its

other arm 20, aving a roll 21, occupying slot 22 in the slidingcam-plate 23.

For connectlng the shafts 1O 11 at other times than on the high speedthere is mount ed on a counter-axis a sleeve24, mounted to slide androtate on a fixed shaft 25, whose ends are supported in the oppositewalls of the casing. This sleeve has formed with it a gear 26 formeshing. with the driving-gear 12 and a gear 27 for meshing with thedriven gear 13. It will be seen that the face of the gear 26 is widerthan the slot 15 in gear 12, so that gear 26 slides readily from oneportion to the other of said gear 12 as though the latter werecontinuous.

The gear 26 is concerned in the low-s eed drive and also in the reversedrive, for w 'ch latter there is provided an additional reversing membercom osed of the connected pinions 28 29, slidab fe axially on a fixedstud or shaft 30, mounted similarly to the stud 25. This reversingintermediate member receives the same movement as the sleeve 24, beingconstrained thereto b means of a pair of flanges 31 31, embraclngbetween them the gear 26. By this means the gear 28 is ke t continuallyin mesh with ear 26, while t e gear 29 is adapted to be sl1d into andout of mesh with gear 13.

For shifting the sleeve 24 there is interosed between gears 26 27 a roll32, carried by one arm 33 of a lever pivoted at 34 to the upper half ofthe casing, its other arm 35 having a roll 36, occupying asecond'cam-slot 37 in the cam-plate 23.

Reciprocating motion is imparted to the slide 23 by suitablemechanismunder control r of the operator, whichmay connect with theslide by means of a post or ug 38 on said shde, such reciprocatingmovement causing the two levers 17 20 and 33 35 to swing on their pivotsand shift the gear '12 and the sleeve 24.

The operation is as follows: For highestspeed forward the cam-plate 23is shifted to its extreme position in the direction of the driven shaft11 and through the medium of .lever 17 20 shifts the driving-gear 12 andcauses the forward ends of its teeth to couple with the internal teeth14, Fig. 6, formed on gear 13. At the same time lever 33 shifts thesleeve '24 to the rearward extreme of its movement, whereby the gears'26 '27 are thrown out of mesh with the driving and driven gears 12 13.This affords a direct connection between the drivingand driven shafts 1O11, whereby the latter is caused to rotate at the same speed as theformer, and also renders the sleeve 24 and the reversing-gears 12S 29inactive; This position of the parts is shown in Fig. 3.- For thelow-speed forward drive the cam-plate 23 is shifted to its middleposition, (shown in 1 and through t he levers it shifts the gear 12 outof engagement with the internal teeth of gear 13 and shifts the sleeve24 so as to bring gears 26 27 thereof respectively into'engagcment withthe driving and driven gears 12 -13. The drive from shaft 10 is thenthrough gears 12, 26, 27. and 13 to shaft 11, the ratios of the gearsbeing such as tocause shaft 1 1 to rotate at a lower speed than shaft10. For the reverse drive the cam-plate 23 is thrown to its extremerearward position, which actionretains the gear 12 in the same uncoupledposition which it occupies in Fig. 1,but shifts the sleeve '24 to theposition shown in Fig. 4, thereby throwing gear 27 out of mesh with gear13 and bringing the reversing-gear 29 into mesh therewith. The gear 26remains in engage- I ment with the elongated driving-gear 12 and thedrive is then from shaft 10, through gears 12, 26, 28, 29, and 13, toshaft 11.. The reversing-train is best seen in Fig. 5. It will be seenthat on the direct or high-speed drive no gears whatever are running inmesh, and this is accomplished simply by a continuati on of thosemovements ofthe shiftable member 24 which are required to effect thechange of gears.

The construction described is. particularly adapted to atwo-speedforward drive, but

. might obviously be arranged for one or more 5 further speeds byproviding an additional member similar to 24 and an additional drivengear similar to 13'or otherwise.

1. Ina slide-gear, the combination of alined 5 driving and drivenmembers; gears carried thereby, an aXially-shiftable gearing member forconnecting the driving and driven gears in a forward-driving relation,and reversinggearing carried with said aXially-shiftable member into andout of train between the driving and driven gears.

2. ln a slide-gear, the combination of alined driving and drivenmembers, gears carried thereby, a counter-shaft, a gearing member 6axially shift able on said countershaft to connect and disconnect saidgears, asecond counter-shaft, reversing-gearing mounted thereon in trainwith said member, and means connecting said reversing-gearing and saidvmember 7 for con-joint shifting movements in the same direction.

3. In a slide-gear, the combination of alined driving'and driven gears,a counter-shaft, an

intermediate member shiftable on said coun- 7 ter-shaft, and'having agear connecting with the driving-gear in both forward and reversedriving, and a gear connecting with the driven gear in forward drivingonly, and reversinggearing connecting with the driven gear and 8 {)hefirst said gear of the intermediate mem- 4. In a slide-gear, thecombination of a gear axially shiftable and formed witha' grooveintermediate its ends, means occu 'ying said 8 groove for shifting saidgear, an a second gear wider than the groove and slidable relative tothe first said gear to engage either por-. tion of the latter.

In testimony whereof I have afiixed my 9 signature in presence of twowitnesses.

HERBERT H. BUFFUM.

